<p>My boss has been out this week. Unbelievable how much lower my stress has been just to know have him constantly here!</p>
<p>We leave toward the end of next week for out 2 week trip to Alaska. I just can’t wait to have vacation and everyone has told me that it’s just beautiful!</p>
<p>RM I get on our ship tomorrow for ten days and may not access wifi much since it’s so expensive. Just wanted to say Bon voyage. Alaska is so beautiful!</p>
<p>All these exciting travel plans! Just a little bit jealous.</p>
<p>Have a wonderful trip sevmom! May you have so much fun!</p>
<p>It is one am Barcelona time. I have been awake for around 36 hours. H is snoring away but I can’t wind down. We had a nice but hot day today. </p>
<p>Hope you fall asleep soon!</p>
<p>Thanks. I am well last my second wind. Must be my 4th or 5th by now. </p>
<p>I agree CQ - just a wee bit jealous. If I could find someone to both plan and pack for me, I might have something.
But I definitely agree I have trouble unwinding when I travel like that. We landed in SF at 11:45, got to the hotel at midnight and I think I finally fell asleep at 2:45.</p>
<p>So tonight H comes home to tell me an old friend of his has a daughter who is in her mid-30’s… married etc. Husband pours gasoline on her and lights her on fire! We don’t know all the details, but he tried to tell the police the grill blew up, but he had no injuries and the grill was cold. She has burns over 70% of her body, but is alive apparently only because whatever room in the house he did this caught the room on fire and a neighbor called the police when she saw the house on fire. Unreal. </p>
<p>PS to that is that I am also sick and tired of school shootings. I just don’t get it. All the shooters end up dead and vilified, and rightfully so. </p>
<p>Went out to dinner tonight with our old bunko group… much improved over the last group outing! There are some I wish I could see all the time and a few I am like…meh!</p>
<p>Mod–as you know the latest school shooting was in my city. Just so very sad.
mp and sev and anyone traveling-enjoy!!
S graduates this Sunday. I have actually thought about a shooter–shudder–situation at the grad.
D has gone back to her medical program. WE are trying to recover from how expensive she is to us. We love having her here but it breaks the bank also.
I was waiting for the mid month pay check when I suddenly remembered that H is retired and it no longer works that way! So funny.
That said, I think I am going to be a wreck as I learn how to incorporate him into my everyday life. He is trying to not be annoying but I am ready to scream @-)
I at least can scheduale myself at my office when he is at home a day or two. Still, what a change.
Wish he could cook!</p>
<p>Lol. Enroll him in cooking classes…to my mind, the benefits are two-fold…gives you respite while he’s in class, makes him able to cook for you. win - win!</p>
<p>Congrats again on the grad and have fun!</p>
<p>So, Bambi is for foraging along my inner fence at this moment. She seems quite curious about the pool. I really should keep a camera at the ready when I’m out here drinking my coffee.</p>
<p>If I did, I would have had a hilarious video yesterday for my pest management guy.</p>
<p>So the chipmunk population has gotten a little out of control given my reluctance to drown then in a bucket, and they’ve become way too habituated. Eg. They will run between my feet! As cute as they are, they’re tunneling demons.</p>
<p>So the guy who does our mosquito control also does live trapping for gopher, moles, chimp monks, etc. he set out 16 flagged traps yesterday. One of them is beside our fiberglass fountain that is a favorite recreation area of theirs…they scramble up to the top, splash around then scurry down and do wind sprints,</p>
<p>So last night I was sitting out here, feeling a little sorry for them because I thought the end was neigh (mch had hired the guy without telling me because I’ve historically resisted chipmonkcide but they drive him nuts) and then I watched them burn two laps around the outside edge of the pool, scamper up the fountain, wind sprint over the trap and play with the darned trap flag…at no time becoming trapped :)</p>
<p>Sigh. I mean, on one hand, I’m kinda rooting for them, but on the other, they drive us crazy and clearly think they own the place.</p>
<p>Had I had my phone with me, I know our guy would have gotten a kick out of the video. It’s like they were taunting him. Remember Caddyshack? :)</p>
<p>Speaking of rural zaniness, Moda, you will be pleased to hear I’m settling down on the Eco-John project. I’d thought I’d found the perfect no-plumbing commode…an incinerator toilet that runs off natural gas (what could go wrong, really ;)) it sounded perfect, though godawful expensive (almost five grand with all the fittings).</p>
<p>Then I read a convoluted 3-year blog thread from a guy who was going off the grid in his “stealth camper” and eventually learned that the smells produced during combustion were not unlike a mobile meth lab :)</p>
<p>I think my neighbors would be quite delighted if I just continue to share the house bathrooms with any inhabitants of the poolhouse :)</p>
<p>kmc - getting a good laugh here over the “chipmunkacide” and toilet stories. I personally like seeing chipmunks in the shrubs in front of my house as when they are not there it likely means a snake is. Guess which I prefer.
moda- that story of the burning is beyond horrible. </p>
<p>Sick of all the shootings.</p>
<p>H and I are going to see Southside Johnny tonight. Went 2 years ago with the same friends and had a blast.
Tomorrow H and I are attending a retirement party for a good friend and then on to our neighbors’ D’s grad party.H’s birthday is tomorrow and S will be attending a whirl of grad parties both Sat. and Sunday. Sunday morning will be the only time to celebrate birthday and Father’s Day. </p>
<p>ETA- Safe travels and have fun to all of our travellers.</p>
<p>kmc – I so enjoy your posts! Always entertaining. Yes, “Caddyshack” is exactly what I was thinking of when reading about your chipmunks.</p>
<p>oregon – I’ve already posted about the uneasy truce H and I reached when he started working from home. One of my best friends went one step further when her H was between jobs and home all day – she went back to work! Or in your case, perhaps more time at work? It can be a difficult adjustment for everyone.</p>
<p>Moda – so sad. It’s hard to imagine what makes someone snap like that. S told us the other day about a college friend (not sure if he’s S’s fraternity brother or fellow ROTC grad) whose good friend from HS killed his wife and then himself recently, leaving 3 children behind. </p>
<p>D is coming to the beach for the weekend as a surprise for Father’s Day. Just the other day H was grumbling, “I wonder if I’ll even hear from the kids on Father’s Day…”</p>
<p>moda, that was absolutely shocking. 70%? That’s a deadly percentage.</p>
<p>Love the chipmunk stories, kmc. We have a groundhog who has taken up residence under our porch. I walked past the back door yesterday and he was sleeping on the steps…just like a family pet.</p>
<p>Went to a nephew’s wedding last week on the Jersey shore… so much fun with all the nieces, nephews and my sisters and BILs. We even had some time on Saturday before the wedding to hit the tables in Atlantic City - thankfully I was able to break even but I still have to cash my winning Belmont ticket.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is the 29th anniversary of my dad’s death - he died the day before Father’s Day. In addition, he would be 100 years old next week and he was a veteran of the D-day invasion. I was telling D and S about all these coincidences on the drive to NJ last weekend. They called the other night and said they would like to go to his grave on Sunday morning to plant some flowers and then take H out for lunch. I cried my eyes out after the call. </p>
<p>Oh, woody! Made me tear up! What lovely children! May you find comfort in your memories and happiness with your family.</p>
<p>I am at the lake. Came up yesterday with D1’s dog. Have the shopping and cleaning done and just got back from a three mile walk. D1 and H will be here for dinner. D2 has a meeting with the wedding photographer on Saturday so we will return home on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day with a cookout. I have planned a menu of grilled shrimp skewers on parmesan spinach quinoa served with a salad of romaine, wild rice, apples, grapes and pecans with a honey mustard vinaigrette. Was trying for a healthy diet friendly celebration. </p>
<p>moda…how awful! What is wrong with people! I get so angry about the school shootings. Our country needs to get their act together to solve this epidemic.</p>
<p>kmc…we have TONS of chippies and gophers. MN is the Gopher State! Not much we can do about them here at the lake. The squirrels are more annoying at home. They are just rats with good PR! 
Yuck!</p>
<p>missy…hope you get some well deserved sleep! Have fun!</p>
<p>I finally drank Benedryl at about 2 am to get some sleep. H and I were out until midnight tonight. Everyone else that was out and about was 35 years younger than us. I wish I could spend a couple of weeks in Barcelona. Such a great summer city. Thinking if y’all even if I don’t comment on everything </p>
<p>KMC - so loved your post. The gas powered toilet was a particular favorite - what could possibly go wrong? </p>
<p>Went to see a house the other day that was next door to a house that had a sign of some sort of a wildlife friendly landscape. I kid you not to say there were so many chipmunks running around on not only that property but the two on either side including the one we were looking at, that I admitted I didn’t think I could live in that close of a proximity to that many chipmunks! However, I will say that there is a house up near the nook that is mostly constructed of reclaimed materials… really very cool… and in the stacked stone retaining walls and foundation of the porch, there are tunnels built in specifically for chipmunks I think via pvc pipe. As I recall someone saying, if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em. In reading KMC’s post, I was actually reminded of that mouse in the Green Mile… maybe a chipmunk circus?!?</p>
<p>Missy - I hope you are having an absolute blast… and remember, you are truly only as old as you feel. So take a nap so you can stay out late! </p>
<p>Oregon - so very proud of your guy… My exhusband graduated from college when D1 was about 6 months old (he transferred and changed majors, but tis true that we were all too young. Can you believe we were actually married for 2 years before she was even born!) My dad graduated from college (although he served in the service as well) when my mom was pregnant with me, so they already had two. Point is, a graduate holding a baby makes for a great picture. :)</p>
<p>And finally, Woody. Your Dad’s story made me tear up as well. Hugs go to the kids! </p>
<p>Aww, Woody – that is such a lovely story.</p>
<p>Just back from 10 days of vacation in NY, split between Manhattan and a stay with an old friend who lives on a bluff overlooking the LI Sound way out in Suffolk County. It was marvelous, but I’m glad to be home. </p>
<p>Eastern Long Island (the North Fork) is one huge maze of vineyards these days. I guess grapes pay better than potatoes? And even the Hamptons are pretty uncrowded mid-week in June. Weirdly, strangely uncrowded everywhere we went. H was totally and completely delighted by fireflies, since they weren’t something he grew up with in So Cal or in Colorado.</p>
<p>We went to the most authentic Hunan Chinese restaurant I’ve visited in 30 years. There were at least five dishes featuring frogs on the menu, beef tendon, tripe, sweetbreads, lotus root, … and a separate (small) section at the back of the four page menu for “American Chinese Food” with standards like beef with broccoli. The lamb with cumin and cilantro was amazing, but I was sweating ferociously and about keeled over when a tiny bit of truly fiery pepper lurked within the fold of a bit of lamb. Luckily we’d brought a six-pack of beer with us, because it was most surely needed. I’d already checked beef tendon in brown sauce off the life list, but I got a few other dishes checked off too. (Our friend is a physicist, and one of the glorious features of working in a lab with lots of grad students from different countries is that you get very good advice on great ethnic restaurants.)</p>
<p>My awww moment: We toured the physics lab, where a team of faculty/post docs/grad students/undergrads is doing final prep on a particle physics device that they’ve moving out to Stanford’s Linear Accelerator this weekend. My friend was showing us around and introducing us to some of the students working on her project, one of whom was an undergrad who’d done quite a bit of complicated assembly work on the detector, including some welding. He wanted to know if it was ok to take pictures to show his dad – who was a plumber, and who’d be proud that his son was working on this crazy complicated device. The look on his face when my friend said that he ought to bring his dad in to see it was pure excitement. </p>
<p>Great story, @arabrab. </p>
<p>What is a gas-powered toilet?</p>
<p>ShawSon went with his GF to our house in Canada for a week but came back today for Father’s Day. He is having so much fun with her and realizes how nice she is and now he realizes that when they part at the end of the summer, he will be sad.</p>
<p>ShawD is overwhelmed by one of her classes and has an exam on Monday and may not be able to come. [We’ll go out to dinner on another day if she can’t come]. The last time she felt panicked in a course, she ended up with the highest grade in the course. But, now most of her classmates are graduate students and not undergrads, so the other students are much brighter – and the course is pretty hard (and maybe not so well-taught).</p>
<p>In the awww category, ShawSon told me that he tells his friends that I am the best dad in the world and gives them four examples that surprise them. The first one was about a meeting that in HS in which he and I were supposed to meet with his Special Ed caseworker and his English teacher who wasn’t really honoring and clearly didn’t intend to honor what the school had agreed to do to help him learn to write. ShawSon and then the caseworker arrived. Then the teacher arrived and brought the Chair of the English Department. My son said, “Uh oh” as he knew the reason to bring the Chair was to support his decision to do what he wanted to do (which was a lot easier for him). Then I arrived … with the Deputy Superintendent of Schools (who was about to become the Superintendent). Apparently about three minutes into the meeting, I said, “It’s my impression that this is an obligation under Federal Law” (if asked, I could have given the section of the law but didn’t) and asked the DepSup, “Am I correct about that?” The DepSup said, “Yes. Does anyone have a problem with this?” The chairman and the teacher said, “No. No problem.” The remainder of the meeting became a conversation about how to do what they were supposed to do. [At that meeting, the DepSup saw the problem we were facing and then later suggested to me that we consider partial homeschooling, which was a fabulous thing.] He knew that not only did I have his back, but I knew how to get stuff done. The second thing was that even though I had a very busy and successful career, I came home for dinner every night that I was in town and helped him and his sister with homework. The third thing he tells them is that my recommendations for him have always been right, and especially that they were recommendations not for me but to help him. So, he recognizes that I suggested that he apply to and attend the school he attended (quite prestigious) but to pass up some Ivies that in many circles would be more prestigious. He also knows that I am in favor of his current plan not because it is great for me but because I think it will be great for him. I’ve told him it will be very hard work. But, he recognizes that I am a trying to help him become a happy, successful adult and the nice thing was that he said although he didn’t always agree with my recommendations at the time, he knows and knew that they were my recommendations for what was best for him (and not me). Apparently the fourth thing that kids are surprised about is how much I trusted him. His example was that he would call me and say, “We’re going to be drinking tonight. So, I won’t drive back but will sleep on the floor at this kid’s apt/house/dorm room.” He knew that I trusted him to use good judgment and left him with the judgment call. I told him that he earned that trust bit by bit over the years by making himself trustworthy.</p>
<p>Anyway, a great start to Father’s Day. I traveled a fair bit when the kids were little and really did not know how to interact with the kids before they could talk, but think I did a fairly good job as a father, particularly coping with some serious problems over the years. What’s nice is that he recognizes it. I think ShawD does somewhat but not so much.</p>
<p>Time to do a little work that will enable me not to go to Germany this week. Life is good.</p>
<p>I hope you guys all of nice Father’s Days and acknowledge like ShawSon what your H’s have done well.</p>
<p>Happy Father’s Day, shawbridge! What a wonderful tribute!</p>
<p>Belated happy Father’s Day Shaw…no doubt you’ve earned your son’s kind words ;)</p>
<p>Btw, a gas-powered toilet is a waterless toilet used for remote cabins etc. where there’s no plumbing or septic…lakefront locution to where in environmentally protected areas. You can use propane or gas if avail to power the incinerator. It hooks up to either a portable 12 volt battery or electrical if avail. An auger moves the “effluent” into the incinerator chamber and then incinerates it (venting, of course, to a stack.) as a result, unlike compost toilets, you simply have to dump ash every few months.</p>
<p>Quite ingenious in design, but in my case I have neighbors down wind and have read that the incineration smell may not be suited to good neighboring…which wouldn’t be. Issue in remote areas ;)</p>
<p>Arabrab, welcome back sweet story!</p>
<p>Moda, your instincts to not buy a house next to a neighbor living “naturally” with a mutant chipmunk population is IMHO quite sound ;)</p>
<p>I will say my own mutant chipmunk population seems to be reducing…nobody was running over my feet yesterday. One survivor thought a swim would be a good idea. I realized the irony as I was fishing the little idiot out with a net…saving him, yet allowing the evil pest co to be trapping them…sigh, such a first-world phenom ;)</p>
<p>I hope you all had a great Father’s Day. Woody, hugs on remembering your dad…I was in something of the same mode yesterday.</p>
<p>Mcson got on his game and managed to have a fun gift shipped to mch in time for Father’s Day. We had a nice time with mch’s dad, who at 85, is still living independently (with his very young wife.)
Mcson called to talk to both during the visit. He was working on his jeep with a friend to get it back on the road before the move home, so while e wasn’t there in person, he was there in spirit.</p>
<p>I do know that FIL is slipping a little…he showed up two hours early for dinner, confused about the agreed time of arrival ;). Imagine my surprise, arm-deep in food prep, a drpping mess from quick swim after copious deck-cleaning with mch at the store getting things I’d forgotten…not my shining hour as a hostess ;)</p>